With the socio-economic development, pressure from work and life gradually increased, anxiety, depression, insomnia and other mental health problems become increasingly prominent. Dating back to the “Nei Jing (the Canon of Internal Medicine)” period, it was recognized that environmental factors, adverse mental stimulation could cause mental and physical illness. Human emotional activities or living habits, which is contrary to the degree of regulation over the body itself, will directly damage the organs, Qi, blood, Yin and Yang, and thus it will cause disease. Disease arises from the inside, and it's mainly caused by the seven emotions, eating disorder, work and rest imbalance and other factors. It is believed in Traditional Chinese Medicine that emotional distress is not only the main symptom but also the root cause of melancholia. It was recorded in the book of “The root cause of disease chapter of Nei Jing (the Canon of Internal Medicine) Plain Questions” that worrying and overthinking could lead to heart damage. In the book of “Treatise on Three Categories of Pathogenic Factors”, the author, Chen Yan, pointed out for the first time that the seven emotions were normal human mental activities, but the excessive seven emotions led to organs stagnation, abnormal accumulation and distribution of blood and body fluid, and therefore induced emotional diseases.
Liver controls conveyance and dispersion, regulates Qi activity, and regulates emotions, if the long-term repeated mental stimulation exceeds the tolerance capacity of the body, it will affect the conveyance and dispersion of liver, liver fails to act freely, and then leads to liver-Qi stagnation. Qi depression transforms into fire, and followed by body fluid concentrates into phlegm and disturbs clear orifices, and thus the patients appear abnormal mental activity, mental depression, and memory loss and so on. Liver depression transforms into fire to disturb heart vessel, and then the patients feel upset, difficulty fall asleep and so on. Liver depression transforms into phlegm, phlegm fire disturbs gallbladder, gallbladder controls decision, so the symptoms of the patients are bradykinesia and have poor decision making abilities and so on. Heart controls blood circulation and mental activities, and spleen controls transport and transformation which is the source of Qi-Blood. If people think too much and the mental pressure of whom is too large, it results in spleen damage, and followed by Qi-Blood deficiency and lacking body nourishment which controlled by transport and transformation of spleen, then the patients appear anorexia, emaciation, and weak limbs, and it also results in the Heart-Blood damage, and followed by Heart-Blood deficiency and lacking mental nourishment which controlled by heart, then the patients appear palpitation, amnesia, insomnia and dreaminess. Kidney is the foundation of the Yin liquid of whole body. Yin liquid has the effect of making the human body moist and quiet, and it can moist Heart-Yin, inhibit Liver-Yang, and supply the substance basis of the organs and brain. If Qi depression transforms into fire and damages Yin liquid, the result is that Yang is out of control, Yang flourishes while Yin declines, Yin deficiency generates interior heat, and thus the patients appear the symptoms such as palpitation which caused by heart and mental disturbance. Brain is the sea of marrow, if the depressive state is unhealed for a long period of time, then primordial spirit lacks of nourishment, and the essence transformation is not enough, which result in “brain spin and ears ring, lower leg ache and veiling dizziness, loss of vision, slack thus lying”.
To date, western medicine still has no effective medicine for pressure-induced anxiety and depression, inattention, poor spirit, dispirited, learning and memory capacity decline, etc. Only after the above symptoms developing to the disease state, some sedative hypnosis, anxiolytic and antidepressant drugs can be used to treat these diseases, which can easily lead to residual effect, withdrawal reaction, dependence and addiction and other side effects.